How to Get a Faster Response to Your E-mail
September 6, 2007
This is an interesting article that lists a few things you can do to help ensure a quicker email response. The author make a great point that sometimes slow response times are due to the recipient’s pure ineptitude. But outside of that, he focuses on the sender’s role in trying to make it as easy as possible to facilitate a quick response.
I especially agree with point number 4: If the message is getting too long, and/or it’s a huge discussion with many parties chiming in with lots of back and forth - email is probably no longer the appropriate communication tool. It may be time to make a call, or even schedule a meeting (not that I’m huge fan of meetings either, see meetings suck!) But somtimes meetings are the appropriate answer.
4. Keep the message short. Again, remember the two-minute rule. If it takes longer than two minutes for the recipient to read your message, it will likely get set aside. In fact, they may never get back to it! So, keep it short. I like the advice some people are now giving: keep your message to five sentences or less. If it takes more than this, you should seriously consider another method of communication (e.g. a phone call, meeting, formal report, etc.)
Read the whole article Here
The Hamburger Method of Constructive Criticism
September 5, 2007
It’s funny what things stick with you in life. Back when I was in college, one of my professors somehow got onto the subject of constructive criticism and decided to teach the class the method he uses for offering “critical” advice to people.
It’s called the hamburger method, and here’s how it works:
When offering a critique, you begin with a constructive compliment on something the person does well (Otherwise known as the fluffy bun part). You then get to the meat of the matter, which of course is the constructive criticism part. Finally, you end with another constructive compliment (i.e. the other half of the fluffy bun).
Basically, you’re sandwiching the constructive criticism between two constructive compliments. In my experience, it’s been an extremely effective technique, largely due to its disarming effective. It helps people let down their guard, and receive the criticism without being as defensive.
Here’s an example:
“Hey Defensive Dave, I noticed you went out of your way to submit your expense report on time every month for the last three months – that’s great! I do, however, think it’s a bad idea to call Jane in accounting an “ignorant slut”. She may not be familiar with that old 1970’s Saturday Night Live Television skit and may be offended by your comment. But overall, your interaction with the team has been great – thanks for making the effort.”
You Can Bet on This
September 4, 2007
Casinos are designed to ensure their patrons lose all track of time and of course money.
Have you ever been inside a casino? I have … Six hours and two hundred dollars latter I was wondering what had just happened? I could hardly believe that I spend almost half my waking hours, and all my hard earned money … on purpose. Sure enough, I had. How does this happen?
Well folks, it’s all by design - quite literally. A casino’s main goal is to get gamblers in and keep them there as long as possible. They accomplish this through a method called “environmental programming”.
Subscribe to Nate’s Productivity Tips by Email
5 New Podcast Quick Tips!
September 4, 2007
In an effort to give N8tip subscribers more options, I’ve decided to add audio to most of my posts. For those of you on the go, you can now enjoy N8tip in your car, while working out, or whatever.
If you currently use iTunes, you can find me listed under “Nate’s Productivity Tips” under the podcasts section of the iTunes store (all my podcasts are free!). You can also listen to and download them right here at the N8tip.com site.
If a post has audio, you’ll see the player (See picture). I’ve also decided to add audio to some of my earliest posts. You can find them liked at the bottmo of this post. Most are just 2-4 minutes long, that’s why I call them quick tips (I’m clever that way 
)
If you’d like to check out the original posts here they are:
Monkey See, Monkey Do Prioritization
What You and Pavlov’s Dog Should Not Have in Common.
Go Ahead, Give Them the Finger and Finish Your Thought!
September 4, 2007
That’s if we’re talking about the “just a minute, let me finish my thought” finger.
Preferably, this would be your index finger, but use whichever you think you can get away with. It’s probably best to save “tall man” for the commute home anyways (kidding of course).
